Noticing that your bird has a few feathers missing can be unsettling if you don’t know the cause of it. After all, we want our birds to be happy and healthy, so that they’d live the longest life with us possible.
Here’s a post on reasons why your bird may be losing feathers, and what to do.
How do I know my bird is experiencing feather loss?
If you find feathers on the bottom of the cage, or feathers falling off your bird as they scratch themselves, fly, fluff up, or preen, this is a definite sign of feather loss.
Molting
Molting is totally normal for every bird. When birds molt, they are renewing their plumage, and replacing damaged feathers. For every feather they lose, they grow a pin feather (it looks like spikes – baby birds are covered in them before they get their first set of feathers). This pin feather slowly sheds its keratin – the “shell” of the pin feather – when the feather is done growing underneath. Some birds preen themselves to help this case shed.
How much a bird molts depends on the species of bird. Many parrots, (which we’ve observed with our own – Frosty, Gomboc, and Crystal (a.k.a. “Pique-pique”)) molt 1 to 2 times a year.
What can I do?
If your bird is molting the best thing to do is give him or her some calcium, which is very good for the bones and pin feathers. I recomend giving your bird cuttle fish bone, which has a good amount of calcium, and is also fun for your bird. Also, when petting your bird, make sure to be very cautious so that you don’t touch any of the pin feathers, as this coud hurt your bird.
Stress
Stress can make your bird lose or even pluck out their feathers. They are very sesitive toward environment changes, so moving or getting a new bird can cause them to become stressed.
What can I do?
If your bird is new, be patient. Don’t make any quick movements or sudden appearances, and this will keep your bird calmer. Loud noises will easily stress your bird, so talk to him/her in a quiet voice, and don’t take him/her out until he/she is comfortable. Over time, your bird will stop plucking and/or losing feathers.
For those with newly-arriving birds, we recommend you read our post on Bonding With Your Birds: Do’s and Don’ts.
Over-Preening
Birds naturally preen to keep their feathers neat, clean, and orderly. However, they may over-preen as a result of boredom or lack of stimulation. Over-preening will lead to the feathers becoming thinner, and even lead them to fall out.
If you’ve noticed your bird preens her/himself often, this may be the reason of why she/he is losing her/his feathers.
What can I do?
Make sure that your birds have toys (scavenging and puzzle toys, maybe some swing-perches) to play with so that they don’t get bored. Maybe try training them to do tricks like fist-bumping or flying to you when you call them. Also try rearranging their cage every once-in-a-while.
Parasites
If you’ve noticed that your bird scratches her/himself often, this is the possibility that she/he has skin parasites. Some skin parasites in birds such as mites or lice can irritate the skin, making it itchy. As the bird scratches her/himself, feathers will begin falling out.
What Can I do?
If you notice that your bird scratches her/himself often, take them to the vet to see how to get rid of these parasites. While your birds are getting the treatment they need, make sure to keep them in a separate cage from your other birds (we recommend to put them in a different room) until they’re healed. Don’t handle your other birds until you’ve properly washed your hands after handling your infected bird to prevent spreading.
To avoid parasites, make sure your bird gets bathed as often as they need, and keep them away from outdoor birds.
Plucking
Sometimes the reason for feather loss is your own bird pulling out his/her own feathers. Plucking can happen if your bird is lonely, has a lack of stimulation, or not enough social interaction. This can especially happen if your bird is left alone while your working or if you leave for long periods of time.
What can I do?
If you’ve noticed that your bird is pulling out her/his own feathers, make sure she/he has enough toys/swings to keep her/him busy. Also get her/him another bird companion so that she/he has some companionship and enough social interaction while you’re away.
Skin Diseases, Sicknesses, or Infections
Certain diseases and sicknesses can lead to feathers falling out. If you notice any signs of sicknesses in your bird, this can be the reason for feather loss.
Fungal or bacterial infections on your bird’s skin can also cause irritation. Similarly to skin parasites, your birds will be scratching themselves often if this is the case.
What can I do?
Get a visit to the avian vet for your bird. Use the instructions your bird’s vet gives you, and keep your bird away from any other birds you might have, in a separate cage (or even a separate room). Wash your hands thoroughly after handling your ill bird to prevent sicknesses from spreading. Make sure she/he gets the proper medication your vet prescribed, and plenty of needed rest.
Poor Nutrition
If your bird’s diet is composed of only one thing, especially if it’s defecient in vitamin A, calcium, proteins, etc, that can lead to plumage brittleness, breaking, and falling out. Birds need a varied diet to supply them with all the nutrients they need to stay healthy and happy.
What can I do?
If your bird has her/his feathers falling out because of nutrient deficiency, simply provide them with a wide viarety of vegetables, pellets, seeds, berries, and fruits (we recommend you check out or post, What to Feed Your Parrot – A Guide for Healthy Cockatiels and Greencheek Conures to see what we feed Crystal (Pique-Pique), Gomboc, and Frosty).
Allergies
If your bird is allergic to anything, this could be the reason why she/he is losing feathers.
Finding out if allergies are the reason, and what they’re allergic to, can be tricky. Here’s a list on what to look out for to find out if your bird is allergic to anything:
- Irritation, redness or swelling around the feet, beak, or eyes
- Scabs and rashes where the redness, swelling, and irritation take place
- Excessive preening, plucking, or any signs of feather damage
- Itching
- Resperatory issues such as coughing, sneezing, noisy breathing, heavy breathing, vocal changes, or runny nostrils
- Behavior change such as lethargy
- Digestive issues such as diarreah or vomit
- Swelling and/or inflamation
- Decrease in appetite or different eating habits
What can I do?
Firstly, try and observe when your bird shows any of these symptoms. Is it after being exposed to a certain food, a plant, something in the environment, or a certain product you clean with?
Next, bring your bird to a veterinarian to run tests on your bird to see what shehe is allergic to. Make sure you don’t have these things around any environment your bird visits.
Imbalance in Hormones
This can happen during breeding season, imbalanced environment factors (such as sunlight or artificial for very long periods of time). With these hormone changes, birds might over-preen or pluck their feathers. The reason for plucking is because certain species of birds use their own feathers to line their nests, so that the eggs are better incubated.
What can I do?
Try to limit the amount of artificial light you use within 24h. Make sure your birds get 10-12 hours of darkness each day. If the days are long where you’re at, you can cover the cage to ensure this.
If you have any toys that make good nesting spaces (anything fluffy, dark, soft, small, cozy, etc, like bird cozy coupes), remove them. Also remove any mirrors you have in your cage. Also, rearranging your cage every now and then would help reduce hormonal triggers.
Make sure your bird has a balanced diet, and isn’t just eating seeds all day. Also try hanging up foraging toys and giving them training excercises to keep them more interested in something else.
Injuries
If your bird has flown into something or has been mishandled, this can lead to injuries that can cause itchiness or pain. As a reaction, your bird might scratch or even pluck her/himself.
What can I do?
Make sure your bird’s environment doesn’t have anything that can injure your bird. Then, make sure that your cage doesn’t have anything that would hurt the injury even more. Lower everything to make sure your bird won’t have to move too much and won’t be stressed. To prevent your bird from overpreening around the injury, give them toys to keep them busy. If this doesn’t help, ask your bird’s vet about any collars or protecting covers.
Pay regular visits to the vet to monitor your bird’s injury.
Genetics
Certain color mutations in cockatiels, such as lutino, albino, or pearl, tend to have more fragile feathers which can break. Crystal (Pique-pique) had this issue before.
What can I do?
Take your bird to a vet to make sure that it’s not another issue on why she/he is experiencing feather loss.
In Crystal (Pique-Pique)’s case, this was genes. She had it since she was a little screeching raptor. We sprinkled calcium from cuttlefish bone into her formula (giving her this feeding once a day, too much calcium would make your bird sick!) Around her first molting, we made sure she endured as little stress as possible, bathed her often, and made sure she ate well. This gave her the strong feathers she has now!
Factors in the Environment
If the environment is too dry and hot, your bird’s skin will get itchy. Of course that would need an itch, but your bird might over-scratch her/himself, causing feathers to fall out.
What can I do?
Try misting your bird often, so that her/his skin wouldn’t go dry. This way, she/he won’t need to itch, either. Keep them away from vents, too much sunlight, or heaters, and keep a humidifier nearby (but make sure that it stays clean so it won’t foster bacteria. Also, make sure to provide good ventilation so that the moving air can cool off your bird. Also, make sure she/he has shady spots to cool down when she/he needs to.
Side Effects of Medication
If your bird is on medication, it’s possible that the feather loss is a side effect of the medication.
What can I do?
Reach out to your bird’s avian veterinarian, firstly, of course! Use anything that is recommended for the feathers health and regrowth.
After doing so, make sure you follow the vet’s advice and supply your bird with a healthy diet for the skin and feathers. This diet should include calcium, vitamin A, vitamin E, and omega-3 fatty acids.
Not Enough Opportunities to Bathe
Birds love bathing! And it’s a good thing too, because it helps to keep their skin and feathers in a healthy condition.
If there aren’t enough opportunities for your bird to bathe, your bird’s skin could become irritated and her/his feathers can grow brittle.
What can I do?
Every bird has a different bathing preference. Some prefer being misted, others prefer flying back and forth through a stream of water, and there are those who prefer to bathe in still water (make sure it’s clean, though). Make sure they have access to these options so that they take as many baths as they need.
There are many reasons why your bird would be losing feathers. Identifying the reasons could really help in understanding the cause and how we could help and ensure that our little avians live a long, healthy, and joyous life. 🕊️
Birds in the Family 
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